Due to both federal and state regulations, motorized vehicles today are limited to the amount of emissions in which they can release during operation. One way of reducing the amount of emissions released by the vehicle is to include an exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) valve in the vehicle's exhaust system. The EGR valve redirects at least a portion of the exhaust gas from the exhaust gas manifold of the engine, so that the exhaust gas is recirculated into the intake manifold of the engine along with fresh air. Furthermore, the EGR valve assembly can have multiple EGR valves in which one valve is a high pressure EGR valve and a second is a low pressure EGR valve. Whether the exhaust gas passes through the high pressure EGR valve or the low pressure EGR valve, the exhaust gas is directed to an air cooler prior to entering the intake manifold of the engine. The air cooler is used to control the temperature of the air entering the intake manifold due to the high temperature of the exhaust gas exiting the exhaust gas manifold and being recirculated through the EGR valve assembly.
However, it is desirable to bypass the air cooler in order to maintain a higher air temperature of the air entering the intake manifold under certain conditions. Thus, a bypass is needed so that the exhaust gas can be redirected around each air cooler. In order to control the amount of air passing through the individual bypasses, a valve is needed in each bypass to open and close the bypass depending on the vehicle operating conditions. The valves used to control the amount of airflow through the bypasses requires additional assembly and parts due to the valves themselves and the control mechanisms to control the valves.
Therefore, it is desirable to develop a combination bypass valve assembly in which the valves in both bypasses are controlled by a single actuator. It is also desirable to have a single actuator control both the bypass valve and the EGR valve. By controlling both valves with a single actuator, the number of parts and manufacturing time is reduced, when compared to an assembly which requires individual actuators for each individual valve.